The Rank Group, owners of Hard Rock, is selling off non-core assets to focus on its core gaming market. Merrill Lynch was lead adviser on the deal while Goldman Sachs provided a fairness opinion.

Rank said it would return £350m (€518m) to shareholders by way of a dividend following the disposal.

Merrill Lynch provided Seminole with financing for the deal which prevented it from being the sole adviser to Rank. Goldman Sachs, a long term adviser to the UK gaming group, was hired to present the board with a fairness opinion.

Rank chief executive Ian Burke said there had been a “significant amount of interest” in Hard Rock, Reuters reports.